The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-09-17
BESIDE THE ROCK.
BY Nj QUAD.

the shadow of the great Sierra Nevada mountains the flesh dries on the bones of the dead. The body shriyels up, the flesh turns black, the-elethes fall to pieces with dry-rot. No burial vault could preserve the dead better.
 Here lies the rifle-there the pow der r-horn-under his withered hand the knife. Had he fallen at the hands of the red men they would have borne these things away. Had he died in conflict with the grizzly whose lair is in the canyon above with the panther whose thrilling cry comes down from the pine thickets- with the great wolves which rear their young among the rocks-we should have found few bones bleach ing in the sun-nothing more.
 Night is coming down. X hunter stands here on this rock and gazes around him. The mountain tops have d grimness which he has never noticed before. With the going down of the sun has come breeze which walls dismally as it sweeps over the pines which seems to sob and complain as it leaps from ledge to ledge. Ragged, ominous- looking clouds arc rising up to shut out sight of the stars, and afar up the mountain side there is a doleful howl from some wild beast.
 Fear! Does fear come to man who has spent a score of years with his life in almost daily peril? Remove your cap and show them the scar lett by the keen edge of the toma- hawk. Bare your breast and let them sec the sears ot bullets. On leg and arm are wounds made by the teeth and claws of fierce beasts.
 But there is look of wonder and awe on the mans face as the darkness settles down to sircumscribe his vis- ion. There is menance ill the night -a threat of danger in every puff of wind. The great rock seems suddenly to culver under him. He forces q smile at the idea, but next moment he leaps down and the look of awe is replaced by one of anxiety. So comes on the night and so it deepens.
 Hark. From the gloomy recesses of the thickets strange noises come down with the wind. IL is as if strong men were crying out in despair -as if women were shrinking from some awful danger The wild beasts are abroad. They are now moving like darker shadows through the night, their eyes of fire searching for q prey and food, but they sit like dogs s and howl their fear and loneliness. 4 The vultures leave their nests in the crags, and their lonely cries are heard far above the hunters head as the frightened birds lose themselves in the black clouds.
 The rock does tremble. As the hunter leans against it he feels it l tremble as if great lever were at work on the other side. There is a new menance in the wind-a louder sobbing in the pine-shriller cries z from the great birds sailing up to meet the clouds with ragged edges. In the mouth of the black gorge half mile away monster bear sniff's at I the air and whines uneasily. He ad- { vances to the mouth of the gorge and peers around him, but only to return B to his lair and tremble and complain. In the great gum-tree almost above the bear a panther tears the rough bark of the giant limb on which he is resting and sends out into the wild H night cry so full of despair that the hunter trembles in every limb as he hears it. Across the open space at his back one-two-five wolves go skurrying in hot haste-eyes full of fear-tOngues out tails dragging the ground-as runs a cowardly cur. From retreat almost at the hunters feet monster rattlesnake drags his full length. His enemy is within striking distance, but he does not % coil himself and strike. He even turns aside rather than give battle.
 And now fear comes. Aye! the man who has never known fear is struck with terror now. Run? Which way! He reaches out in the darkness as if to clasp some hand for consola- tion, but he is alone. He turns this way and that with fierce longing to hear the tones of human voice. but the wall of the panther comes aneN. The ground quivers and the great stone rocks. The mighty hand of Terror forces the man to prostrate himself.
 Stand here and you can sec what happened. There is where the gorge split its way into the mountains dark and tortuous passage up and down which bear could scarcely force his way. Behold now great canyon or pass along which wagons are driven. The gum-tr tree in which the panther walled was one of thous- ands. Where are they now? A thousand acres of trees and rock and earth have made a foot hill where once . valley blossomed. To the lief,